Tornadoes and thunderstorms shattered parts of the US South today, killing at least 52 people and injuring more than 150 in the deadliest such onslaught in nine years.
The storms crumpled trucks on highways like toys and trapped and killed people in splintered houses, factories and shops.
At Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, Ferina Ferrington told a TV reporter: "My husband and I got into the bathtub with our little girl. I remember flying through the air. It was very scary. Then it was real quiet and we saw our house was gone. Our baby was unhurt."
Hardest hit were Tennessee - where 28 died - Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama, with unconfirmed reports of 69 tornadoes swirling across these states and northward into Indiana, according to the National Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
The death toll rivaled that of the last large deadly series of tornadoes in May 1999 in Oklahoma, Texas and other states, when about 50 people were killed, the center said. Tornadoes typically kill about 70 people in the United States each year.
The weather service and state officials said that in addition to the 28 killed in Tennessee, there were 13 dead in Arkansas, seven in Kentucky and four in Alabama. Injuries were widespread, with 149 people hurt in Tennessee alone.
